Vice-president Geraldo Alckmin (PSD) stated that the United States has promised “large resources” for the Amazon Fund, the largest financial policy for environmental preservation on the planet. The amount that will be made available by the US government has not been announced.
The announcement was made this Monday (27) after the meeting between the vice president and the United States special envoy for climate, John Kerry. The meeting at the Itamaraty Palace was attended by the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva (Rede).
“The envoy John Kerry did not define a value, but stated that he will work together with the government, with the US Congress and with the private sector to have substantial resources, not only in the Amazon Fund but also in other cooperation”, stated Alckmin.
Understand: Amazon Fund: what is missing for deforestation to start falling in Brazil?
After the meeting, Marina Silva called the meeting a “preliminary conversation regarding topics that will be the reason for a joint announcement”. She reported that the two governments made a term of reference that will be followed by the work of the technical teams in the countries.
“Who will announce the value is the Biden government in the right time for them. They depend on Congress. Nothing will be done in order to disregard the dynamics of each country. Brazil works so that we can have the fastest possible contributions that are being made by different countries and governments, as Germany has already signaled. Each country has its time and its internal dynamics”, said Marina at a press conference.
The US intention to contribute to the Amazon Fund was announced during President Lula’s visit to Washington, at the beginning of the month.
image abroad
The visit by the US climate authority marks yet another stage in the rebuilding of Brazil’s image abroad. John Kerry’s official agenda in the country is to proceed with the Brazil/US Climate Change Working Group, officially relaunched by Lula and US President Joe Biden on February 10th.
Among other topics addressed by Kerry and Brazilian authorities are the promotion of clean energy production and income generation for the Amazonian population. He will stay in Brazil until Tuesday (28), when he goes to Panama. The federal government informed that a meeting between Kerry and Lula is not foreseen.
Bolsonaro administration sabotaged the Amazon Fund
The Amazon Fund finances projects to preserve the biome in the areas of inspection, sustainable economy and land tenure regularization. Experts already claim Brazil in fact that the initiative is vital for the federal government to be able to lay the foundations for “zero deforestation” in Brazil, an electoral commitment by Lula (PT).
“The Fund will guarantee that we will have the conditions to carry out environmental policies, since the Union’s budget is very fragile. And it has enough resources to carry out major actions”, stated in January the advisor for Socio-Environmental Policy and Law at the Institute Socioenvironmental (ISA), Adriana Ramos.
:: Boycott of the Amazon Fund was a “political option” of the Bolsonaro administration ::
Under Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Brazil sabotaged the Amazon Fund by dissolving the councils that managed the funds. For this reason, more than R$ 3 billion were not used in the preservation of the forest.
One day after Lula’s electoral victory, Germany and Norway – the two financing countries – announced the resumption of the Fund. Since then, the United Kingdom and Switzerland are also considering participating in the environmental preservation program.
The Ministry of the Environment foresees that the Amazon Fund should jump from the current R$ 3.2 billion, which are blocked, to at least R$ 10 billion.
With information from Agência Brasil
Editing: Thalita Pires
